Duff Sharing 16th Birthday with Fans

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/15/2003 at 01:00 AM EDT

Hilary Duff may have said goodbye to Disney and her hugely popular "Lizzie McGuire" series, but that doesn't mean she'll be estranged from her die-hard TV fans.

The teen phenomenon will star in two music specials for the WB network, the Associated Press reports. One will be in connection with her 16th birthday on Sept. 28, and the other for Christmas for the 2003-2004 season.

"We are thrilled to be starting a relationship with the Duff family and hope this is the beginning of a long alliance," WB Entertainment President Jordan Levin said in a statement. (The WB, like PEOPLE, is part of AOL Time Warner.)

To those who caught this spring's "Lizzie McGuire Movie" -- and to the 31 million fans of the Disney Channel's highest-rated sitcom ever -- Duff needs no introduction.

Duff is the force behind the TV show, the movie, the soundtrack's hit single, a forthcoming clothing line with her signature funky style and much teen-mag chronicling of her nearly two-year on-again, off-again romance with singer Aaron Carter, 15.

She and Disney, however, are off permanently. The 'tween actress bolted from the studio after they failed to reach a new deal.

Meanwhile, Duff has recorded a solo album and signed for a reported $2 million to do a big-screen "Cinderella." As for her fame, "It's so, like, unreal to me," Duff told PEOPLE, "'cause I'm really a normal kid."